I have a confession.
We all know, or maybe you didn't but now you will, that I despise AM radio. Or should I say despised. As in past tense. Yes, that's right. I have been converted.
It was a surprisingly quick and painless transformation. One day I was listening to KISS 92.5, jamming to the latest club hits and chart toppers (as well as enduring what sometimes felt like an endless stream of horrid radio commercials and advertisements), and now? Well let's just say News Talk 1010 has its new biggest fan!
Of course, even though my co-worker strongly suggested (or demanded, whichever wording you prefer) that I begin listening to AM radio so that I might benefit from the commute to work I did resist as much as any America's Top 40 lover would.
However, a time came when I found myself stuck in traffic, in the middle of one of the endless streams of horrid commercials, and i did it.
I pressed the AM/FM button to switch from my nice music station over to The Dark Side.
I tuned until I reached 1010 and immediately found myself in the middle of some intelligent conversation. It was a bit of shock I'll admit to go from songs with lyrics like "Applebottom jeans, Boots with the fur" to hearing "Rob Ford's been accused of a DUI and marijuana possession".
My first reaction - who's Rob Ford? This guy just sounds like the average teenager.
But what I liked, and still do, was that within a couple seconds of wondering who this random dude was, the broadcaster went over everything and explained that he is running in the mayoral election for Toronto. It was nice. I learned something, spent only a couple seconds wondering what was going on, and now have something I can talk about with adults to make myself look smart.
Another plus - it's actually not boring. There's no time wasted with the dull filler information that you get from school or "educational articles". It's just the facts. Everything is in regular terms, none of this "I'm so smart I'll use barely English words to discuss this topic". No. It's great! Everything is easy to follow, makes sense, pertains to your life, and is, dare I say it, interesting.
One might wonder, if I don't care about the mayoral election, or why it might be bad for a foreign investor to own the Canadian potash business, why listen to 1010?
Well I will tell you!
Another great feature of News Talk is that they let people call in and voice their opinions about the topics being discussed. And every once and a while a crazy person calls in. Not often. But sometimes, if you're lucky, someone will call in who's opinion is just SO far from the average civilians and it's just like "Whoa, where did they find this guy?".
What adds to the entertainment you can get at this nutty person's expense is that the show host from 1010 often tears apart whatever the caller is saying. And I mean TEARS APART. No mercy.
It's awesome!
So next time your favorite hit music station is taking a commercial break considering switching over to The Dark Side of things. AM's not that far away. You might only stay for a couple minutes,.. but who knows...
MUAHAHAHA
